Bail reforms high on chief judge's list

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 2:00 AM

ALBANY — New York's chief judge on Tuesday laid out his vision for the state's courts in 2013, outlining an ambitious plan that includes bail reforms, a push to reduce wrongful convictions and a legislative proposal to open up courts to news cameras.

BY HEATHER YAKIN

ALBANY — New York's chief judge on Tuesday laid out his vision for the state's courts in 2013, outlining an ambitious plan that includes bail reforms, a push to reduce wrongful convictions and a legislative proposal to open up courts to news cameras.

In his State of the Judiciary speech, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman proposed changing bail statutes to allow judges in New York criminal cases to consider public safety when setting a suspect's bail. Currently, 46 states and the District of Columbia allow judges to consider whether the defendant poses a danger to the community, Lippman said. But New York judges are not allowed to consider that — they may only weigh whether bail is sufficient to guarantee the defendant's return to court. Lippman also proposed expanding supervised pre-trial release programs, especially for non-violent offenders.

Lippman advocated legislation to mandate videotaping interrogations of suspects in serious felony cases throughout the state, something that's already done in some jurisdictions, and reworking witness identification procedures to minimize risk of mistaken identifications that can lead to wrongful convictions.

Lippman is also pushing a proposal to open up the courts to cameras at judges' discretion, saying the state is "woefully behind the times" on the issue. A 60-year-old provision of state Civil Rights Law bars audiovisual coverage of any court proceedings involving compelled testimony by witnesses.

"The public has a right to observe the critical work that our courts do each and every day to see how our laws are being interpreted, how our rights are being adjudicated and how criminals are being punished, as well as how our tax dollars are being spent," Lippman said.

Lippman also called for reporting by lawyers of their pro bono work, and for legislation to treat 16- and 17-year-olds charged with nonviolent offenses as juveniles rather than adults.